WATCH: Instead of playing defense, Tim Hardaway Jr. stops to call fallen referee safe

Hardaway Jr. gave a 'safe' call like he was an umpire in baseball

By Jack Maloney

Nov 23, 2017 at 12:17 am ET • 1 min read

The matchup between the Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks on Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden was quite the interesting affair.

After the Knicks fell behind by 11 at halftime, they absolutely took over in the third quarter outscoring the Raptors, 41-10, in the frame. They then held off a rally by the Raptors in the fourth to win, 108-100.

In the third quarter, the Knicks rattled off a 28-0 run, which was the largest run by any team since 2009.

Per Elias, the Knicks’ 28-0 run in 3rd quarter tonight was the biggest run by a team since the Cavaliers had a 29-0 run against the Bucks in December 2009.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) November 23, 2017

While there was plenty to talk about from a basketball perspective, we're here to talk about a non-basketball moment. Specifically, Tim Hardaway Jr. taking a few seconds during live play to pretend to be a baseball umpire.

No, seriously. That was a real thing that happened.

Late in the fourth quarter, Serge Ibaka caught the ball in the corner as one of the refs took a stumble and fell to the ground on the baseline just a few feet in front of Hardaway. The Knicks guard then made the hilarious decision to ignore Ibaka's shot in favor of making a "safe" call like he was an umpire.